With the growth of professional sports, geographic rivalries found a new battleground. The Chicago Bears versus the Green Bay Packers. The Chicago Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals. Even as teams relocated over time and the leagues grew, adding organizing into divisions, those geographic – and by then historic – rivalries were preserved in both sports.

Early in the Chicago Fire’s history, however, things were not so cut-and-dry: The team spent the first two years in the Western Conference, making Kansas City (Wizards, now Sporting) the team’s closest in-conference rival. When MLS briefly split into three divisions, Chicago were moved to the Central division, making Columbus the closest in-division rivalry.

Despite some good (or bad?) faith efforts by MLS fans from the three cities, however, the rivalries between the Fire’s nearest (and for a long time, only) Midwestern opponents lacked the intensity that the NFL and MLB teams enjoyed.

The situation continued until St. Louis’s entry in the league in 2023, and even though the Fire’s nearest geographical opponent plays in a different conference, and even if St. Louis’s most natural rival is Kansas City, the history between Chicago and St. Louis – if not yet the two clubs – felt different.

In 2023, the Fire beat St. Louis twice in the span of a week – first in U.S. Open Cup play at SeatGeek, then at Soldier Field in league action a few days after. That made Chicago the first team to have handed St. Louis multiple defeats across all competitions. Last year, St. Louis returned the favor, beating the Fire 3-1 at home and extending the Fire’s winless streak that would eventually go on for nine games.

This year, the game is later in the season and the stakes are different: St. Louis, in 14th place of their conference and 11 points out of the final postseason spot, have been all but relegated to playing spoiler for other teams. The Fire are currently in 9th and the final postseason spot, looking to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. For that to happen, the Fire need to start getting more wins at home – whether that means SeatGeek or Soldier Field – particularly against teams they should beat.

Series History

All time: 1W-0D-1L Last match: May 11, 2024: St Louis City 3-1 Chicago Fire at Energizer Park, St. Louis, MO. Last home match: May 13, 2023: Chicago Fire 1-0 St Louis City at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

What to Expect

St. Louis City

The last time that the Fire hosted St. Louis during first season in the league, they were near the top of the league en route to a season that saw the team finish top of the Western Conference.

The numbers behind that, though, suggested that they were a bubble playoff team that was grossly overperforming their level, and since that 2023 season’s first-round exit to eighth-place Sporting Kansas City, the team hasn’t put up anything like the numbers they did in their first year.

After firing Bradley Carnell (now having a highly successful year in Philadelphia), the team’s first coach, partway through last year, they dismissed his replacement, Olof Mellenberg, just 15 games into his tenure. Now on their fourth coach (including interims) in the past 13 months, St. Louis are currently in 14th place in their conference, with just five wins and a -15 goal differential.

The team has one of the lower roster spends in the league and has stayed committed to playing a quick counterattacking style of soccer that eschews possession for transition moments. That is often a good way to raise the floor on a group that faces a talent deficit to their opponents, but the team’s lack of secondary scoring around Klauss (and the fact that Klauss isn’t a high-end finisher in this league) has removed much of the sting from that plan.
That isn’t to say that the team doesn’t have quality: They just beat Nashville – the team that so thoroughly vexed the Fire this year – 3-1 last week at home.

According to Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, in addition to Klauss “They have some very good pieces… the wingers, some of the central midfielders. I know Alfredo Morales from the national team, some good young defenders, I think one of the best goalies, if not the best goalie, in the league” in Roman Bürki.

With their 2025 season all but spoken for, they’ve started to bring in young pieces for the future. Last week, new U22 Initiative player Fallou Fall, the second-most expensive transfer in team history, made his debut and looked good in the victory over Nashville. Berhalter also called right winger Sang-Bin Jeong, brought over from Minnesota three weeks ago, “an outstanding player.” They have also missed midfielder Eduard Löwen, whose wife has been battling cancer, for long stretches. When available, his play has both stabilized the group and raised its ceiling.

St. Louis’s season is close to being lost at this point: They are 11 points out of the postseason with nine games remaining, and nothing short of a miraculous finish would see them climb above five other teams into ninth place. They are now playing for the future, with players making their case for expanded roles in the future and a hope that they can end 2025 feeling like they’ve started something to build on for next year. And if part of that can involve playing spoiler to as many teams along the way as possible? They’d love nothing more.

Chicago Fire

Against Los Angeles FC last week, Jonathan Bamba scored a goal for the first time since June. It was also the first time since June that Bamba was coming into a game with a week off.

Coincidence? Maybe but what isn’t a coincidence is that he had a shot on target. That may sound obvious but he’s scored in four of the 10 games in which that’s the case. Too often – as is the case in matches where he hasn’t had a shot on frame, and in many of the games where he has – Bamba shoots only after a lot of work trying to beat defenders and, often, after looking for – and failing to find – a pass first. As a result, many of his shots have come from bag angles and either make easy work for the goalkeeper or go wide of the target.

That’s a plea for Bamba to shoot more, and earlier, but it’s just as useful talking about why he took the shot that put the Fire ahead: The hard work of beating defenders – which Bamba often feels the need to take on himself – was done for him by the time the ball was at his feet. Brian Gutiérrez did a great job playing through pressure and laid off a picture-perfect pass to Zinckernagel in a dangerous area, who then directed it to Bamba on the other side of the box.

That’s the kind of decisive passing that we need to see more of from the Fire midfield for them to really reach their potential, and Gutiérrez deserves credit for it. Now, with another midfielder incoming, the onus is on him, as well as the rest of the group – particularly Sergio Oregel Jr., the team’s second-most offensively-minded midfielder that will be in the lineup on Saturday – to make the case to Berhalter that they should be on the pitch for every minute down the stretch.
A performance like the one the team had against Los Angeles last week should be more than enough to see the team victorious. Do that, the team’s perfect home record against St. Louis will be extended.

Projected Starting XI

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, August 16, 2025, 7:30 PM CT Forecast: Cloudy, around 90º and humid at kickoff. Location: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, Ill. TV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass Radio: WLS 890 AM and wlsam.com (English), Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).